CAPE TOWN — The winners of the 2025/2026 National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF)-South32 Awards—famously known as South Africa’s ‘Science Oscars’—have been revealed, with the University of Cape Town (UCT) securing top honours across medical innovation and data-intensive astronomy.
The annual awards celebrate South Africa’s leading researchers, innovators, and scientific teams whose work drives national development and advances global knowledge.
Championing Health Sovereignty: Prof Sudesh Sivarasu
Professor Sudesh Sivarasu—South African Research Chair in Biomedical Engineering and Innovation, Director of the Biomedical Engineering Research Centre, and head of UCT MedTech—received the Engineering Research Capacity Development Award.
The award recognizes his 15-year mission to close the gap between African clinical needs and globally competitive medical device technologies. Rather than relying on expensive, imported equipment unsuited for resource-limited local clinics, Sivarasu’s team designs affordable, clinically relevant devices specifically built for African health systems.
“This award celebrates capacity development and that is where my heart is. As I often say, the most durable thing we can build is people and people go on to build everything else. This award belongs to every one of them [students], as much as it does to me.”
— Prof Sudesh Sivarasu, UCT Biomedical Engineering
Over the last 15 years, Prof Sivarasu has mentored more than 100 researchers across postdoctoral, doctoral, master’s, and honours levels, forging a self-sustaining pipeline of African biomedical engineers.
Visualizing the Cosmos: The CARTA Astronomy Team
In addition to Prof Sivarasu’s honour, the Cube Analysis and Rendering Tool for Astronomy (CARTA) team—operating out of the Inter-University Institute for Data-Intensive Astronomy (IDIA)—was awarded the inaugural Research Software Award.
CARTA provides essential visual analytics software designed to process immense datasets generated by world-class astronomical facilities. The recognition carries a bittersweet tribute to the late Professor Rob Simmonds, IDIA’s former associate director for new technologies, who served as CARTA’s technical lead.
“Although the award was accepted by IDIA in recognition of its strategic and technical leadership, it belongs to the entire CARTA collaboration: the developers, scientists, and institutional partners… It is also a particularly meaningful and bittersweet tribute to Professor Rob Simmonds.”
— Prof Roger Deane, Director of IDIA
Summary of UCT Science Oscar Winners
| Award Category | Recipient | Key Contribution |
| Engineering Research Capacity Development Award | Prof Sudesh Sivarasu (UCT MedTech) | Mentored 100+ researchers and developed localized, affordable medical devices for African healthcare. |
| Inaugural Research Software Award | CARTA Team (IDIA) | Built scalable visual analytics software for international astronomy infrastructures. |
